Spanair

Foundation and early years

The airline was established in December 1986 and began operations in March 1988. It was set up as a joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines and Viajes Marsans, and began operations with European charters. Long-haul flights to the United States, Mexico and the Dominican Republic were launched in 1991, followed by domestic scheduled flights in March 1994. The airline flew long-haul flights with Boeing 767-300ER aircraft to Washington and Buenos Aires in the late 1990s.

Spanair joined the Star Alliance on 1 May 2003.^[4]

SAS announced in a press release 13 June 2007 that it would sell its shares in Spanair.^[5] The divestment was cancelled on 19 June 2008 due to SAS not being able to sell for a price that it considered to "reflect the underlying value in Spanair." On 30 January 2009, however, a one-euro bid from a group of investors from Catalonia, led by the Consorci de Turisme de Barcelona and Catalana d'Initiatives, was later accepted, whereupon SAS became a minority shareholder.^[3]

A report in the British newspaper The Times on the day of the 2008 Madrid crash suggests that staff were threatening strike action due to concerns about the company's viability.^[6]

In 2009 the airline asked for public input on a new logo,^[7] with a winner being officially confirmed on 13 May 2009. As of June 2009, Spanair began applying the new corporate identity to their aircraft.^[8]

Demise

On 25 January 2011, the company was in an "Emergency Financial Situation". The Catalan government approved a €10.5 million loan plan in order to save it. Revenue improved and the company began cutting costs. Financially troubled during its last few years, Spanair ended operations on 27 January 2012, after Qatar Airways pulled out of talks to inject cash into the airline.^[9][10] As a result, SAS had a write-down of 1.7 billion Swedish kronor ($251 million U.S.).^[11] Ana Pastor, the development minister of Spain, said that the Spanish government may fine the airline 9 million euros (US$12 million) after breaking serious aviation security rules by shutting down without proper notice.^[12][13] The carrier said all flights would remain suspended, but it did not say whether it planned to file for bankruptcy.^[14][15] The last passenger flight was JK1326 from Trondheim to Las Palmas.

Head office

Spanair's head office was located in the Spanair Building (Edifici Spanair) in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona.^[16]

Previously Spanair's head office was in the Spanair Building on the grounds of Palma de Mallorca Airport in Palma de Mallorca.^[17] In 2008, during the changes in ownership, Spanair said that its head office would remain in Palma de Mallorca, despite rumors that the company would relocate its head office to Barcelona. ^[17] In 2009 the company announced that it planned to relocate its corporate offices to Barcelona.^[18] In May 2009 Spanair made Barcelona its registered domicile. The airline began to search for a site for the Spanair headquarters in Barcelona.^[19] In June of that year around 200 employees protested outside of the Spanair offices in Palma, saying that the timetable to move the offices was too hasty.^[18]

Service concept

For economy-class passengers traveling within Western Europe the airline offered a buy on board service offering food and drinks for purchase.^[20] Spanair also had revamped their own frequent flyer programme, which was renamed Spanair Star. It was innovative for allowing members to redeem points immediately, in the form of a discount on a future flight.

Sponsorship

Between 1995 and 2005, Spanair was the main kit sponsor of Spanish football club RCD Mallorca.

Codeshare agreements

Spanair had codeshare agreements with the following airlines until of January 2012,^[37] Airlines marked with * were members of Star Alliance at the time of Spanair's collapse.

Final fleet

The Spanair fleet consisted of the following aircraft at the time of closure.^{[40][41][42][43]}

Retired fleet

Spanair operated the following aircraft before its closure:^{[citation needed]}